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Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications Sheldon Museum of Art

2000

Trains That Passed in the Night

Thomas A. Garver Guest Curator, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska- Lincoln

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Garver, Thomas A., " That Passed in the Night" (2000). Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications. 78. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/sheldonpubs/78

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Sheldon Museum of Art at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sheldon Museum of Art Catalogues and Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Trains That Passed in the Night The Railroad Photographs of O. Winston Link

AN EXfllBITION ORGANIZED BY SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY AND SCULPTURE GARDEN UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN FOR TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, 1998 -2000

Thomas H. Garver, Guest Curator

January 7- March 22, 1998/ Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln Nebraska April 21- June 21, 1998/ Virginia Museum of Transportation, Roanoke, Virginia July 21- September 20,1998/ Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia October 20- December 20, 1998/ Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia January 12- March 14, 1999/ Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas April 13- June 13, 1999/ Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio July 13- September 19, 1999/ Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina October 15- November 26, 1999/ Cantor-Fitzgerald Gallery, Haverford, Pennsylvania January 11- March 12, 2000/ New York State Museum, Albany, New York April 18- June 18,2000/ Sordoni Art Gallery, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania August 20- November 5, 2000 / Stanford Museum of Art, Stanford, California

000111000SHELDON MEMORIAL ART GALLERY & SCULPTURE GARDEN 12th and R Street University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 68588-0300 The Photographs of O. Winston Link

inston Link was a young practitioner of an old photographic tradition, one still W much used, but which now commands little public notice. He developed a strong personal style within the technique of using cameras that were usually fixed in place, mounted on heavy tripods and using large negatives, typically 4 x 5 inches in size. The dynamic qualities of photographs made this way came through their careful planning: the precise placement of the camera, and equally careful placement of the lighting sources, with people and objects also being arranged with an eye for the final effect. Photographs using this technique were (and still are) made by the millions for advertising and illustrative purposes. While this manner of photography is still widely used, we have come more often to think of photographic "truth" through another aesthetic, one created by photographers using small hand held cameras. Sometimes described by the generic term "street photography," photographers who work in this way usually move rapidly and invisibly through their surroundings, making images using only the light available and leaving the environment untouched and unchanged. Not only did Winston Link use a different photographic technique, his motivations were different from street photographers. His interest, in all his work, was to create as precise and careful a record as possible of the scene being photographed. Using lessons he learned from his commercial advertising photography, Link had less interest in documenting life as he found it than in creating images of life as he (or his clients) might wish it to be. Thus in his railroad photos, Link built a record that not only documented the locomotives and trains themselves, but emphasized the benefits of the railroad to the life of the communities through which it passed. He was, in his way, preparing and executing an advertising cam­ paign for the "American Steam Railroad," and the good life in the United States which it supported. In many of his photographs, the passing is incidental to the activity in the foreground, be it buying groceries, taking a swim or herding cows. Yet, even in the back­ ground, the steam railroad was still the essential element which stitched together Winston Link's personal vision of this good life in America.

Sometimes the Electricity Fails, Vesuvius, Virginia, 1956 Checklist of the Exhibition

Photographs are listed chronologically, with the negative index nwnber following the photo title. Most of the prints in the exhibition are black and white, gelatin silver photographs printed either 16x20 or 20x24 inches in size. Ten color coupler prints printed 16x20 inches are indicated by the designations "C" or "K" in the negative nwnbers. All the prints in the exhibition have been lent either by the photographer or Cheryl and Robert ZideJ; Portola Valley, California. The title for this exhibition is taken from a video program on o. Winston Link created and directed by Paul Yule, Berwick Universal Pictures, London, England, for presentation on British tele­ vision's Channel Four in 1990, and is used by permission. All photographs in the exhibition and reproduced here are © o. Winston Link, and are used by permission.

1. Station InteriOl; Waynesboro, Virginia, 1955 (NW3) 11. J. O. Hayden, Engine Greaser at Bluefield 2. J. W. Dahlhouse Polishes a Headlight, Shaffers Lubritorium, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NW330) Crossing Yard, Roanoke,Virginia, 1955 (NWS) 12. Y6 Locomotive Moving out of the Wash Bay, 3. Washing J Class Locomotive 605, Shaffers Crossing Bluefield Yard, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NW342) Yard, Roanoke, Virginia, 1955 (NW13) 13. A Summer Evening With Train No.2, Lithia, 4. Filling a Tender with Water, Shaffers Crossing Yard, Virginia, 1955 (NW362) Roanoke, Virginia, 1955 (NW14) 14. Ghost Train - Freight, Moving West at Norfolk, 5. Y6 Locomotive on the Turntable, Shaffers Crossing Virginia, 1955 (NW419A) Yard, Roanoke, Virginia, 1955, (NW2S) 15. Locomotive 104 Taking Water, Bristol 6. Troy Humphries and a Cracked Window, Waynes­ Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW612) boro Station, Waynesboro, Virginia, 1955 (NW32) 16. R. E. Boother Polishes the Bell, Locomotive 104, 7. Locomotive Drive Wheels, Lubritorium, Bluefield Bristol Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW617) Yard, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NWS6) 17. J. H. Pope Washes Locomotive 104, Bristol S. Abingdon Branch, Ralph White, ConductOl; and Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW620) Fresh Laundry, Damascus, Virginia 1955 (NW114) IS. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Arrives in 9. Abingdon Branch, Children at Nella, North Alvarado, Virginia, 1955 (NW639) Carolina, Wait for Lollipops, 1955 (NW149) 19. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Passing over 10. Abingdon Branch, Locomotive Taking Water at Bridge S, South of Abingdon, Virginia, 1955, West Jefferson, North Carolina, 1955 (NW152) (NW666)

A Class Locomotive and Fast Freight on a Foggy Day, Blue Ridge, Bonsack, Virginia, 1959 ros he made beginning in 1956, the trains became the background to the life lived along the tracks. Whether chatting quietly, pumping gas or going to the drive-in, the train was always there. He also returned to the Abingdon Branch that year to create some of his most memo­ rable photos made during daylight hours. By 1957, steam had been removed from several divisions of the railroad, and Link concen­ trated on recording the splendid J class streamlined passenger engines before they were with­ drawn from service on most runs. By 1958 steam was regularly found only in the western end of the N&W, working in the coal fields of West Virginia. By 1959 there was not much steam left, and Winston Link again concentrated on the engines themselves, so soon to be gone, but this time photographing them in a more expressionistic way, trying to record in sta­ tic images some sense of that incredible surge of flailing, ground shaking energy as these engines, some weighing upwards of one million pounds, thundered past in the dark.

wksbill Creek Swimming Hole, luray, Virginia, 1956 o. Winston Link and History

ne lesson Winston Link learned from his father was how to tell a good story. His O skills at weaving a tale were transposed into his photographic vision as well. He was able to see an image in his mind that would exist in reality only for the split second it took for the flashbulbs to ignite and record the event on film. He often worked in all but perfect blackness, on occasion spending days to make a single photo-all for the benefit of adding a page or chapter to his story of this steam railroad. While he loved railroads, Link never considered himself to be a "railfan." He didn't travel around the country to visit railroads, nor was he interested in making static photos of as many steam engines as he could find. When he was shown such photos, he dismissed them as "hardware shots," because the locomotives were no longer in their normal envi­ ronment of their life on the tracks or along the line. Like a good story teller, Link was also willing to wait until his audience was ready for the tale. He made little effort to have his railroad work seen, beyond publication of a few photos reproduced in railroad magazines, until the mid-1970s, and it was not until 1983, almost thirty years after he started the project, that these photographs received their first museum exhibition. Since that time they have been widely exhibited and published, and many people who otherwise would have no interest in photographs of railroads have warmly responded to them. The reason for their wide appeal must lie in the breadth of the project's conception, and in the care taken in its execution. These photographs are period pieces, bits of another time and place, but they are also images created with deep respect for the people photographed, the places where they lived and worked, and the splendid machines they operated.

T. H. G.

Maud Bows to the Virginia Creeper on the Abingdon Branch, Green Cove, Virginia, 1956 o. Winston Link

Winston Link was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1914, the son of a school O teacher. Early on, Link showed an aptitude for technology, and his father, a demanding man but a good instructor, introduced him to a variety of options. The elder link trained his son to handle tools well and encouraged his interest in photog­ raphy. It was at this time that he also developed an interest in steam railroading which was to remain with him for life. Link attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, where he was a good student and a popular one, being particularly well known for his practical jokes. He graduated in 1937 with a degree in civil engineering, but photography was to claim him before engineering could. Engineering jobs were scarce in Depression America, but Link was offered a position as photographer for a large public relations firm. His job was to make photos for his clients which were submitted for free use in newspapers and magazines. The photos had to carry the clients' messages, and do it with such cleverness and wit, or be so unusual, that photo editors couldn't resist using them. In this job he learned to use people to animate his pic­ tures, and how to give them both compositional "punch" and the vivacity editors wanted. With the onset of World War II, Link used both his engineering and photographic skills as a photographer and researcher for a secret military project, designing and building devices to detect submerged enemy sub­ marines from airplanes flying over­ head. The research laboratory was located in Long Island, adjacent to the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road which was powered by steam at that point. Link renewed an interest in steam locomotives and railroads that had been all but dormant for some years, and began to photograph them. In 1946, with the end of the war, he chose to become an independent, free lance photographer and opened his own photographic studio, first in Brooklyn and later in Manhattan. His clients included many major American companies and leading advertising agencies who called him when they needed a photographer with a knowledge of large cameras and complex lighting setups. It was during this time, from January, 1955 to March, 1960, that he created the documenta­ tion of the last years of steam railroading on the Norfolk & Western Railway. He retired from active practice in 1983, and now lives in Westchester County, New York. Winston Link's photographs of the Norfolk & Western Railway are documented in two books, Steam, Steel & Stars, 1987, with text by Tim Hensley, and The Last Steam Railroad in America, 1995, with text by Thomas H. Garver. Both are published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, and both are in print.

o. Winston link (left) and George Thorn, and Night Flash Equipment, New York, 1956

Cover: Hot Shot Elistholinri. IIIp.np.r. Wp.st Virninill 1!11lli Checklist of the Exhibition

Photographs are listed chronologically, with the negative index number following the photo title. Most of the prints in the exhibition are black and white, gelatin silver photographs printed either 16x20 or 20x24 inches in size. Ten color coupler prints printed 16x20 inches are indicated by the designations "c" or "K" in the negative numbers. All the prints in the exhibition have been lent either by the photographer or Cheryl and Robert Zider, Portola Valley, California. The title for this exhibition is taken from a video program on O. Winston Link created and directed by Paul Yule, Berwick Universal Pictures, London, England, for presentation on British tele­ vision's Channel Four in 1990, and is used by permission. All photographs in the exhibition and reproduced here are © O. Winston Link, and are used by permission.

1. Station Interior, Waynesboro, Virginia, 1955 (NW3) 11. J. O. Hayden, Engine Greaser at Bluefield 2. J. W. Dahlhouse Polishes a Headlight, Shaffers Lubritorium, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NW330) Crossing Yard, Roanoke,Virginia, 1955 (NWS) 12. Y6 Locomotive Moving out of the Wash Bay, 3. Washing J Class Locomotive 605, Shaffers Crossing Bluefield Yard, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NW342) Yard, Roanoke, Virginia, 1955 (NW13) 13. A Summer Evening With Train No.2, Lithia, 4. Filling a Tender with Water, Shaffers Crossing Yard, Virginia, 1955 (NW362) Roanoke, Virginia, 1955 (NW14) 14. Ghost Train - Freight, Moving West at Norfolk, 5. Y6 Locomotive on the Turntable, Shaffers Crossing Virginia, 1955 (NW419A) Yard, Roanoke, Virginia, 1955, (NW2S) 15. Locomotive 104 Taking Water, Bristol 6. Troy Humphries and a Cracked Window, Waynes­ Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW612) boro Station, Waynesboro, Virginia, 1955 (NW32) 16. R. E. Boother Polishes the Bell, Locomotive 104, 7. Locomotive Drive Wheels, Lubritorium, Bluefield Brisrol Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW617) Yard, Bluefield, West Virginia, 1955 (NWS6) 17. J. H. Pope Washes Locomotive 104, Bristol S. Abingdon Branch, Ralph White, Conductor, and Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1955 (NW620) Fresh Laundry, Damascus, Virginia 1955 (NW114) IS. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Arrives in 9. Abingdon Branch, Children at Nella, North Alvarado, Virginia, 1955 (NW639) Carolina, Wait for Lollipops, 1955 (NW149) 19. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Passing over 10. Abingdon Branch, Locomotive Taking Water at Bridge S, South of Abingdon, Virginia, 1955, West Jefferson, North Carolina, 1955 (NW152) (NW666)

A Class Locomotive and Fast Freight on a Foggy Day, Blue Ridge, Bonsack, Virginia, 1959 20. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Crossing 51. Locomotive 104 on the Turntable, Bristol Keller's Field at Harvest Time, Watauga, VA, 1955 Roundhouse, Bristol, Virginia, 1957 (NW13n) (NW673) 52. The Passes Max Meadows 21. Coaling Locomotives, Shaffers Crossing Yard, Station, Max Meadows, Virginia, 1957 (NW1618) Roanoke, Virginia, 1955 (NW691) 53. The Birmingham Special Gets the Highball at 22. Father and Son Watch a Coal Extra, Montgomery Rural Retreat, Virginia, 1957, (NW1635) Tunnel, Christiansburg, Virginia, 1955 (NW704) 54. Christmas Time at Bridge 322, Seven-Mile Ford, 23. Hester Fringer's Living Room on the Tracks, Virginia, 1957 (NW1637) Lithia, Virginia, 1955 (NWnO) 55. Giant Oak and the Birmingham Special, Max 24. Norvel Ryan and His Son Herd Cows as Train Meadows, Virginia, 1957 (NW1643) No.3 Passes, Shawsville, Virginia, 1955 (NWn3) 56. The Popes Watch the Last Steam Powered Passenger 25. Winston Link, His Assistant George Thom, and Train, Max Meadows, Virginia, 1957 (NW1648) Night Flash Equipment, New York, 1956 (NW792) 57. Uncoupling on the Fly (Six Photo Sequence), Blue 26. Locomotive Backing Past Hager Tower, Ridge Grade, Virginia 1958 (NW1909, NW1916-1920) Hagerstown, Maryland, 1956 (NW798) 58. Swimming Pool, Welch, West Virginia, 1958 27. Archie Stover, Crossing Guard at Luray, Virginia, (NW1963) 1956 (NW817) 59. Main Line on Main Street, North Fork, West 28. Luray Crossing at 3 AM, Luray, Virginia, 1956 Virginia, 1958 (NWl966) (NW821) 60. The Honey Hole: Waiting for the Next Train, 29. Winston Link and George Thom Making the Boaz Siding, Vinton, Virginia, 1958 (NW1977) Photo of Archie Stover, Luray, Virginia, 1956 (NW829) 61. S1a Switch Engine and its Crew, Shaffers Crossing 30. Train No.2 Arrives at Natural Bridge Station, Yards, Roanoke, Virginia, 1958 (NW1980-93) Natural Bridge, Virginia, 1956 (NW873) 62. A Class Locomotive and Freight on a Foggy Day, 31. Train No.2 and Gooseneck Dam on the Maury Blue Ridge, Bonsack, Virginia, 1958 (NW1998) River, Near Natural Bridge, Virginia, 1956 (NW883) 63. Contact Sheet. The Leaves Williamson, 32. The Keith Children Fish as Train No.2 Passes in West Virginia on a Rainy Day, 1959 (NW2018-2029) the Background, Lithia, Virginia, 1956 (NW1081) 64. The Cavalier Leaves Williamson, West Virginia, 33. Hot Shot Eastbound at the Iaeger Drive-In, on a Rainy Day, 1959 (NW2024) Iaeger, West Virginia, 1956 (NWll03) 65. A Class Locomotive in a Hurry, Near Bonsack, 34. Train No.2 on Bridge 425 (Back View), Arcadia, Virginia, 1959 (NW2128) Virginia, 1956 (NWll07) 66. Coal Extra Westbound Hauling Empty Hoppers, 35. Train No.2 on Bridge 425 (Front View), Arcadia, Near Bonsack, Virginia, 1959 (NW2129) Virginia, 1956 (NWll08) 67. Joe Estis, Fireman on a Y6 Locomotive, Near 36. Sometimes the Electricity Fails, Vesuvius, Williamson, West Virginia, 1960 (NW2159) Virginia, 1956 (NW1l22) 68. The Second Pigeon, on a Kermit-Bound Mine Run, 37. Hawksbill Creek Swimming Hole, Luray, Near Williamson, West Virginia, 1960 (NW2177) Virginia, 1956 (NWl126) 69. Y6 at the Massey Mine, Near Gilbert, West 38. Abingdon Branch, Maud Bows to the Virginia Virginia, 1960 (NW2222) Creeper, Green Cove, Virginia, 1956 (NW1230) 39. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Leaving Green Color Photographs Cove, Virginia, 1956 (NW1236) 70. The on the Bridge West of 40. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Leaving Green Cooper Tunnel, West Virginia, 1955 (NW5K) Cove, VIrginia, Ford Car in Foreground, 1956, (NW1238) 71. Colonna Shipyards at Night, Norfolk, Virginia, 41. Abingdon Branch, Folks Wait for the Creeper at 1955 (NW10K) the Station, Green Cove, Virginia, 1956 (NW1248) n. Abingdon Branch, Maud Bows to the Virginia 42. Abingdon Branch, Joe Dollar Waits for the Creeper, Green Cove, Virginia, 1956 (NW39K) Creeper, Tuckerdale, North Carolina, 1956 (NW1252) 73. Coal Train Moving Westbound, Montgomery 43. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Arrives Late at Tunnel, Christiansburg, Virginia, 1956 (NW121K) Bridge 7, Near Watauga, Virginia, 1956 (NW1264) 74. Two Class A Locomotives Hauling a Coal Extra 44. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Passing by Eastbound, Blue Ridge Grade, Virginia, 1957 Overlook, South of Damascus, Virginia, 1956 (NW1291) (NW26C) 45. The MeetofN&WTrain No.2 and B&O Train No. 75. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 Crosses a Forked 7 at Shenandoah Junction, Maryland, 1957 (NW1333) Stream, Tuckerdale, North Carolina, 1957 (NW44K) 46. Ghost Town, Stanley, Virginia at 3 AM, 1957 76. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 201 at Creek (NW1345) Junction, Virginia, 1957 (NW64K) 47. The Volunteer Fire Department and Train No.2, 77. Abingdon Branch, Train No. 202 Passing the Grottoes, Virginia, 1957 (NW1349) Store, HusklNella, North Carolina, 1957 48. Solitude Siding and Train No.2, Virginia, 1957 (NW75K) (NW1350) 78. The Eastbound, Blue Ridge Grade, 46. Egg Stove and Bananas, Vesuvius General Store Virginia, 1958 (NW34C) and Train No.2. Vesuvius, Virginia, 1957 (NW1352) 79. Highball for the Double Header, Blue Ridge 50. The Lone Star Shifter Passing the Station, Grade, Virginia, 1959 (NW32K) Cloverdale, Virginia, 1957 (NW1359)